Bella and Clay’s story starts before they even met.




Bella was anticipating her acceptance as a student at Brigham Young University in February 2021. The rejection letter she got forced her to change plans, leading her to apply to Brigham Young University-Hawaii after an extension in their application submission date was made. (It is important to credit Bella’s Mom for convincing Bella, who was certain she would be rejected, to apply). The acceptance letter came as a big shock to Bella.




Clay was completing his freshman year of online school at BYU-Hawaii in 2021. Feeling content with his decision in pursuing a biochemistry degree, Clay spent his time studying constantly. Clay did not yet know what he was missing.




Bella arrived at BYU-Hawaii in August 2021. A 12-hour plane ride away from home, Bella was alone on a tropical island with no one to tell her what to do. Bella spent her first few weeks as a college student hiking with her roommates, walking around Honolulu city, and laying out on the beach. Oh, and doing schoolwork occasionally.




Clay took the “university” part in BYU-Hawaii literally by studying rigorously at the picnic tables outside the library daily. Clay did occasionally enjoy hiking with his roommates, walking around Honolulu city, and laying out on the beach too. His academia was always of utmost importance to him though.




On September 21, 2021, Bella and Clay met for the first time.




Bella had just gotten back from church when her spontaneous roommate, Hina, asked (or told) Bella to join her for a different ward’s Sunday school. Considering that she had already changed into her comfy after-church clothes, Bella did not feel inclined to join Hina for a class that she explained was going to be taught by her friend Clayton.




“Get changed and let’s go” Hina stated.




So Bella changed and went to church for the second time that day. She thought that more blessings would come to her that day (hopefully) since she made the difficult act of changing back into a clingy dress.




Clay was getting ready to teach his first lesson when Bella walked into the classroom. Clay started the class by introducing himself, and explaining that he was from Quincy, Illinois.




Bella was surprised to find another fellow Illinoian, especially one from Quincy (a place she had visited a lot growing up). Clay continued to his lesson, and Bella (truthfully) worked on a school essay on her phone. Hopefully Clay can understand that Bella had listened to the same lesson just a bit earlier and it had nothing to do with him.




“Hi, I’m Bella and I’m from Illinois too!”




The lesson had finished, and Clay was talking with Hina when Bella introduced herself. Bella can still not explain it, but she truly felt that she needed to befriend the man from Illinois.




After speaking with one another and finding it easy to do so, Clay and Bella parted ways.




It was only 10 minutes later when Bella got the notification on her phone.




No, it was not a text from Clay. But an alert from his roommate who decided to like and comment on one of Bella’s old Instagram photos. The comment explained in weird cryptic terms that Clay, not the roommate, had liked the post. Bella sat confused.




Later that night, Hina invited Bella to dinner with her at the BYU-Hawaii cafeteria. Clay, as it turns out, was invited by his roommate to dinner at the cafeteria at the same time! Interesting.




The dinner happened, Bella and Clay spoke, and then they parted. At home, Bella thought that the earlier Instagram mishap was probably a one-time occurrence. Until she got another notification from Clay’s roommate. More specifically a direct message telling Bella that she was talking to Clayton.




Literally, all the message said was “This Clayton”. Strange, considering this message was coming from Clay’s roommates account. Why would Clay not just text from his own account?




Bella did not believe it for a second.




Clay, as it turns out, had zero clue about his roommate impersonating him. Only when he got a text from Hina did he find out about his identity fraud. Clay was not too happy.




The next day, and just about the whole rest of the week, Bella spent her time dodging Clay. She could not understand how she kept on seeing him around campus, despite not having ever seen him before. Bella hid behind many walls during this time.




Clay was still planning on asking Bella out. As it turns out, he had been planning on it since first meeting her, but the awkward impersonating situation steered him from doing so right away. Now he just had to reopen conversation with her again, and hope that she was not too weirded out.




It was a Thursday when Bella finally took the courage and spoke to Clay. To this day, Bella is proud of having made the first move. Hina had invited Bella to hang out with her at work, which Bella quickly accepted. Bella had not seen Clay at all that day, and at this point, she had developed feelings for the blonde-haired boy. Bella deeply regretted not going up to talk to Clay that week. But there was truly nothing left to do, so Bella decided to try pushing away the feelings she had developed.




About to leave her room, Bella was weirdly prompted to stay seated. So she sat. Bella sat for exactly 10 minutes before she felt the pull to stay, gone. Then Bella walked. Similar to in her room, Bella felt prompted to walk down a different sidewalk from usual. She thought that maybe she could grab a snack from the convenience store this way, although she honestly had no clue why she felt so strongly that she went down this specific path.




Bella walked and at the same moment, down the same sidewalk, skated Clay. Bella felt the strongest, most spiritual, unhuman prompting for the third time: she needed to talk to Clay. But she was scared, and nervous about how Clay would respond. So Bella walked past and Clay kept kicking his longboard into motion. They had already passed one another when Bella felt the words uncontrollably leave her.




“Clayton!” Bella blurted.




The blonde-haired boy stopped and turned around. Bella and Clay stared at each other, unsure of where to move or what to do. Clay finally took the first step and met Bella where she was standing.




“Hey,” Clay stated.




“Hey,” replied Bella.




“I’m sorry for all that weird stuff that happened.”




“It’s ok, I’ve been in weirder situations.”
—
Bella and Clay would go on to spend their first date at the beach and Taco Bell. Then later meet each other’s parents for the first time during Christmas season in Illinois. Eight months would be spent via phone calls and FaceTime with each other while Bella worked at Disney World and Clay studied at BYU. Both would be reunited in Provo where they have stayed since, still eating at Taco Bell.
—
No one will ever fully understand the extent to which Bella and Clay love each other. They call each other daily, despite living in the same town. They spend entire days with one other and anxiously await the next one. They make meals for each other, or at least Clay makes them for Bella who has never been the best cook. Bella and Clay love each other more than words can describe.




Or perhaps I cannot find the correct terminology to describe the feelings we hold for each other. I am no Shakespeare or Emily Henry, so I cannot find the perfect words to say I love you. So I will say it in the way I can.




Clayton Moore I really, truly, love you.








- Bella